Dang, that “jelly beans” joke took a lot of the enthusiasm I was feeling for this film away.

Ben

Hmm…this trailer actually makes me want to see it less. Now, it looks like every other cliche movie, and it could easily be the 3rd Chipmunks movie.

Ryoku

Certainly looks like a 3rd Chipmunks movie.

http://deaniac.deviantart.com Deaniac

I dunno, I thought the trailer was cute. I like how the bunnies have English accents; interesting choice of voice actors. And the animation here is leagues better than, say, Yogi’s or Alvin’s CG outings.

If you can overlook the “jelly bean” shtick (which I thought was pretty harmless), this movie looks pretty neat.

Donald C

Well aside from having decent animation, it really doesn’t seem to stand out from the rest of the Cute CG characters in a live action film thing. The whole film seems to be filled with these harmless jokes but that might just be poor marketing.

Alissa

The bunny was a lot cuter on its own. Next to live action humans the critter hops straight into Uncanny Valley.

And the poo joke why? I never liked jelly beans anyway, but that is just disgusting. And you just know the movie will have a gag somewhere with someone eating ‘jelly beans’ that they just found lying about…

Idiocracy

Yes, you are quite observant. There will be a gag somewhere with someone eating jelly beans, because it’s in the trailer.

Alissa

I wasn’t honestly paying too close attention. The jelly bean thing stood out in all the bad way while the rest of the trailer was really bland.

I really really hope the movie’s better than this. Trailers always suck more or less.

http://www.elliotelliotelliot.com Elliot Cowan

I know it has that gag because the gag is in the trailer.

Scarabim

Yeah, and in this instance, the term “gag” truly lives up to its name.

I mean REALLY? He poos jelly beans? *hurk* OH, and let’s not forget the overtones of bestiality…

Darn, I was looking forward to this too. Feh.

Pete

Oh boy, a joke about eating shit, just like in the first Chipmunks trailer!

Meredith

Awww, the jelly bean thing was lame. And gross. Everything else looks cute. Who is the audience for this anyway? I honestly can’t tell.

http://www.doctorwhom.com gavin mouldey

Perhaps I should be keeping this to myself, but I kinda want to see this now. It could be the first of the ‘furry cg cartoon in live action’ films that I won’t hate.

http://2dwannabe.blogspot.com robcat2075

It’s cute.

How did they get the GEICO Gecko inside a bunny suit?

John

Actually I’m surprised how good the animation is here, since this work is coming from an animation studio, not a visual effects studio that hires animators like Rhythm & Hues (Scooby Doo, Garfield, Yogi Bear).

Bob

uh…Derp. Check your facts.

El Jay

Actually, Rhythm did the animation for this show.

Yup. All of it.

Look it up! :)

Idiocracy

So, let’s say Rhythm and Hues did animate this film… Would that change your mind about how good the animation is?

T Kelling

Of course. That’s how a childish bias works

John

Nope, I’m not that childish!

JoJo

actually, it comes straight from Rhythm and Hues.

2011 Child

So if the cartoons here came from Rhythm and Hues, why don’t they just plug them in the opening cards instead of Illumination Entertainment? I’m starting to think they don’t have any in-house animators.

Elan

Illumination farms all their animation out. Illumination employs zero animators. Despicable Me was actually produced by MacGuff Animation in Paris.

snip2345

Do you think Disney, Pixar, Blue Sky, and DreamWorks farm out their animation (………..com-plete-ly)? Nope. Maybe Chris Meledondri left Blue Sky not only to establish Universal’s CG house, but was fed up with the actual labor of it.

http://www.youtube.com/user/OriginalGagBonkerss OriginalGagBonkers

I have a feeling that sooner or later that kids who watched Alvin and the chipmunks as well as garfield are going to wish that they didnt. Because this makes those movies look good.

Kasey

I turned it off after the “jelly beans” scene. We’re probably going to get the usual fish out of water antics, and I’m sure the human the bunny’s staying with will grow to love him through some obnoxious sentimental scenes.
“I wanna be somebody!”…How old is this cliche? The design and animation of the bunny’s cute, though.

And I’m probably thinking too much than I should about a silly movie, but there are so many weird implications that are already coming to mind that probably should have been dealt with in story dept.

A minor one: Does this mean that the eggs are also pooped out? If the bunny was a girl, she could at least lay them, but that’s still….

http://myspace.com/edel_illus edelillus

Wow… lots of snarky jerks in here this afternoon. I think its cute. The Animation looks really great. If all you are fixated on is that shit-eating joke maybe you missed that clip CB posted last week about the lady using her floppy tits on a typewriter most of you thought was GENIUS.

tedzey

thank you for indicating how creepy that last short was with the teets!

Ryoku

The bunny crapping jellybeans is odd but I don’t get why everyones so fascinated by that either. I bet theres toys that do the same.

mike

What a pile of poo.

jordan reichek

4000 years of tradition? isn’t Easter around 2000 years old?

juss sayin…

tedzey

I think they’re going to avoid the jesus-stuff in a movie with a jelly bean shitting bunny!

Mike Luzzi

You forget that the easter bunny is a pagan symbol so it pre-dates Christ

Scarabim

Plus, the word “Easter” comes from a pagan spring goddess named Eostre.

Erin Siegel

Well the human actors leave me unimpressed. But then not since Roger Rabbit have I been enthralled with any live action actors in a cartoon/live action hybrid. But I can still see a cute movie behind all that crappy trailer editing.

Prediction: the chicks are evil and want to take over Easter.

Erin Siegel

Also I give props to the people behind this for not making the bunny American. It would be very very weird to have a rabbit from Easter Island sound American.

Peter H

I’m English, and I find the idea of using English voices for the Bunnies rather odd, as we do not have the “Easter Bunny” tradition, and see it very much as an American invention. (Yes, we have Easter Eggs, and yes, bunnies are Easter symbols – we just didn’t put the two together in any meaningful way!)

If the idea really did come over with Dutch or German settlers, as is suggested on the web, then perhaps the Easter Bunny should have been voiced by Arnie!

Eostre was a Saxon goddess, so wouldn’t that be something that came over with the whole Anglo-Saxon merger after the Battle of Hastings? (I’m not an expert in history.)

Peter H

Sure, the pagan Spring festival was celebrated across Europe, and probably the whole world in some form or another. But I was thinking more of the specific idea of a rabbit that left (laid?) Easter eggs for children to find. Is that really an old European custom, or did it originate in the US?

Inkan1969

Shouldn’t he then have a Chilean accent, though? Or an accent that natives Rapa Nui’ans have? Just saying.

http://bruandboegie.co.za Mike

“…and in other news, yet another jelly bean company has gone out of business. Analysts are still trying to track the track the cause of another in a string of jelly bean company casualties. And now for the sport…”

http://www.inkandpixelclub.com Sara

I guess I kind of forgot/willed myself into forgetting that this as live action with animation. My enthusiasm had gone down a bit. It looks like just about every other “kid who wants to go his own way” story. Still, the rabbits are cute, the British accents are at least something different, and if the toilet humor doesn’t go beyond the jelly beans, it might be okay.

http://chippyandloopus.com/ John Sanford

Yeah…the jelly bean deal was over the line. Ehg.
But the rest is kind of fun.

Bob Robertson

Typical Brew readers… Hate it, unless its Pixar… Sigh. Congrats to the animation team. Looks cute and fun…exactly what this movie should be.

tedzey

we don’t hate it cause it’s not Pixar. I’d bash Pixar if they were making stories about Easter Bunnies who shit Jelly Beans just as well!

Inkan1969

I think I would’ve liked this movie if not for the jelly beans gag. Hopefully someone can nix the gag before the film goes to theaters.

Phil

I was hoping the bunny would battle Jesus at some point in the movie.

@Mike
You mean a pile of Jelly Beans! HURPDURPDURP!

CVG

Aw dang. When I heard it was from the guys who did Despicable Me which was so cartoony and cute, I thought this was going to be a fully animated film that explored the world of the Easter bunnies mythos (akin to like Silly Symphony’s Funny Little Bunnies). :( Now this looks like just another film about a cgi talking animal in the live-action world.

http://kecky.blogspot.com kecky

Oh dear. I thought this was going to be fully animated, not this alvin and the easter bunny nonsense. My interest in seeing it just went from about 25% to 0.

James Marsden… why….

http://elblogderg.blogspot.com Roberto

It looks like a remake of the first Alvin and the Chipmunks movie, only this time it’s for teenagers/adults more than kids.

I have to say that’s an improvement. It’s still silly but in a more surprising, less annoying way and the CGI characters are cuter than usual.

Even the coprophagy gag is less gross in this one. I actually like the bunny character, he acts like a teenager but he still looks and sounds cute. The voice work seems really nice.

Kaley Cuoco and David Hasselhoff are ok on my book too. Not too mad about James Marsden but he doesn’t look too annoying in the trailer.

It won’t be a masterpiece but it does look more entertaining than other CGI+life action movies. At least they created a new character instead of ruining a pre-existing franchise this time around.

I don’t think I’d pay to see it in cinemas, but I will consider if there’s nothing more interesting in theaters at that moment.

http://bobrob.blogspot.com/ Bob Hilgenberg

“Laying” Jelly Beans, not sh*t*ng them…at least that’s what I thought. The guy is probably set straight in the same scene. In any case, it looked like it might be fun.
Illumination has certainly earned the benefit of the doubt from me.

http://kecky.blogspot.com kecky

Considering the main character is a male rabbit, I don’t know what he would be laying them out of.

http://bobrob.blogspot.com/ Bob Hilgenberg

>”Considering the main character is a male rabbit, I don’t know what he would be laying them out of.”<

THAT is an excellent observation and I'm happy to publically acknowledge it!

http://kecky.blogspot.com kecky

Always happy to help!!

http://dtoons.com/conroy Failing Art Student

This is bad. It’s Alvin and the Chipmunks but with a public domain character.
Isn’t the third Chipmunks movie also coming out this year?

Sarah

Once again, we get an ugly cgi film. Why can’t films be like the ones when were all kids? (this is a person who’s favorite films include Return to Oz).

2011 Child

Well that……………….. threw me for a loop. For one thing, I thought it was entirely CG! This makes it look like a CG Roger Rabbit movie.

But they lost one particular viewer at the candy poop.

treger

Actually if you see in the trailer @ 1:05 and 1:55 there appears to be parts of the movie that are indeed full CGI.

Karen

Why is it the characters never look as though they’re looking at each other or are in the same scene? And the animation looks like Roadside Romeo. Was it done in India?

http://www.sibsy.blogspot.com Sibsy

I don’t care what anyone says about the movie as a whole, I’m sticking to my first instinct from the teaser – that is the CUTEST damn cg rabbit I’ve ever seen. Bring on the terrible merchandise!

Oh, I’m such a girl.

http://www.jeffsimonetta.com Jeffrey Simonetta

I laughed a few times, It surprised me it has a lot of potential to be a good movie.

John Field

I know it’s just me, but every time I see a trailer with bunnies in it, I think how cool a c.g.i. snake would look!!
I was gonna say pass, but then Kaley Cuoco appeared and that changed my mind.

Andrew Kieswetter

I’d forgotten that it was a live-action/CG hybrid. It looks fun and I may see it.

Daddy issues…AGAIN…
MAN.
If I had a dime for every dumbass bit of animated media I saw that revolved around some cute character’s troubled relationship with his dad…
…I would have a lot of dimes. I could get a very small burger or something.

Ruben Estrada

I didn’t think it was too shticky… and I do like James Marsden and Kaley Cuoco.
But who the fuck said “Yeah, let’s get David Hasselhoff!”…?
That was a bit of an eye-roller. Other than that it looks cute.

http://www.cementimental.com Tim Drage

That joke was better in The External World

juan alfonso

Whatever its merits(or lack of them) it will make money,and perhaps become an Easter-time must-see for the kids.
Is it my imagination or are humans becoming dumber in these films?here I thought David from the Chipmunks was the Moron of the Year and this comes out…

Cute and they have the Hoff, sweet as those Jelly Beans, I think this one is for the modern child and will be a hit and in many families dvd/bluray collection for the next 50 years or so

Claudia

So, this is basically “Alvin & The Chipmunks”, with a bunny and a slightly better human co-actors.

http://thatssokraven.livejournal.com/ Kelly Tindall

Looks okay, I suppose. I’m not a fan of poop jokes but I can already see my little nephew comparing his craps to jellybeans; the suffering that will inflict on my brother warms my heart.

Good to hear Hugh Laurie using his actual voice instead of that scratchy abomination that passes for an American accent on House.

http://los-utopicos.blogspot.com allari

Th animation looks smooth and bunny is cute, but the script and jokes are so lame in a sitcom way.

Mr. James

I was kind of hyped to see the film when the trailer started and it was all CGI in the “bunny world”. Then he got to the “real world” and my interest dropped immensely. I’m still going to give it the benefit of the doubt and see it because I think there’s a lot more of the film they’re not showing us in this trailer. I think the studios have made money with the chipmunk movies and they’re pandering to the kids who saw that and the parents who took them to it. I’m guessing all of the truly fun scenes are being saved. At least that’s my hopes. As I’ve said in previous posts about this movie, I worked with the Walmart merchandising style guide and saw a lot of other still frames from the movie that made the “Easter Island” areas look pretty cool!

dan

I actually think this movie looks interesting and fun. The bunny is cute (as is James Marsden). But that poop joke…come on, really? Ugh…So irritating and certainly not funny.

Matt Sullivan

I..um…still think you should wait to see the movie before you judge it, but I do wonder why this director has such an obsession with showing cute critters defecating onscreen?

Honestly the thing that shocks me most is the live action. That came out of nowhere.

Steve Gattuso

Maybe I’ll see it on a matinee. But that jelly bean joke really did hit all the wrong buttons. I could have written something far less stupid in my sleep.

Morpheus

They missed a bet by not putting Ronald Reagan’s head on the bunny. The man devoured jelly beans and the rest should be history.

JMatte

I was also taken by surprise, thinking it would be a full cg film. Shows that I should stay informed. A little bit sad to see the inclusion of live action, but oh well.
Also getting the Chipmunk vibe, as many other previously said, mostly due to the “trying to be a big music star” aspect.
Overall, looks very well done. Characters are charming. Thinking about going to see it.
I’m willing to accept the jelly bean poop jokes, depending how it is set up in context of the story. And if they start explaining chocolate eggs…

AJ

Did one of the writers trick a kid into eating an animal turd when they were young?. also thank you trailer for releasing all the potential plot lines to this movie now I don’t need to see this movie, then again I don’t think I will miss much. I feel kind of sad for the artists they went to colledge or school managed to get a job in the field,only to animate a rabbit defacating.

Pedro Nakama

For a second there I thought Brendan Fraser was going to get out of the car.

Not terrible. I do give them props for creating an original character instead of re-creating an already existing franchise. The character animation looks great. (Can’t make a film without ‘The Hoff’, I mean, come on!)

Nate

Anyone else notice the music from Bolt in the trailer? Right at the point before the universal egg logo.

Keith Paynter

“From the makers of Alvin & The Chimpunks” = poop jokes.

Say no more!!

chipper

Hated the unnecessary toilet joke, but I love that rabbit design. More CG characters should be so cute.

Dr. Ivo Robotnik

I was already feeling pretty down in the dumps tonight. This made things worse.

TsimoneTseTse

yuk – Drink Slurm!

I will take odds, that the final fade out gag of Hop, will involve those jelly beans

umm Slurm!

TsimoneTseTse

By the way, MoCap must have really improved, cause the humans looked almost REAL!!!

almost

http://sacks10.blogspot.com/ SACKS10

After seeing the bunny hop along the co-star, he almost looked like Brer Rabbit from Disney’s “Song of the South”. Would be cool to see a CG/live action version of that film. (like that’s ever going to happen).

Ryoku

Just you wait, now that you’ve metioned it it will happen.

Spencer Morin

Nice job Chris Bailey on the animation! Hope the movie is better than the trailer, though. :/

Why are people going off on the jelly bean gag? Gross, really? REN & STIMPY was full of far more gross and crass gags (eating turds, talking to farts etc)and everyone thought it was a work of genius. You know what, again like everything else that gets panned here . . . it is just a CARTOON.

Obviously created for people who just want to have some fun when watching a movie. Everyone panned Tangled and it turned out to be quite good.

Without these type of films there would be no industry at all and then where would we be as practitioners?

There’s room for all types of animation, arty or otherwise. We should be more open.

http://elblogderg.blogspot.com Roberto

I don’t know how to explain it but I found most of Ren and Stimpy gross gags kind of original and smart. However gross gags were not my fave part of the show and I actually think John K. took it too far in the adult party version.

That said, I actually didn’t mind the coprophagy gag in this one too much. I hated the one in Alvin and The Chipmunks.Again I can’t explain why I found this one more tolerable cause it’s pretty much the same thing.

It’s just that for some reason Alvin gave me a “lame souless children movie” kind of feeling and this give me a feeling closer to “Howard The Duck” mixed with a Judd Apatow buddy movie. “Howard The Duck” was lame but not without its charm, it was kind of “it’s so bad that it’s good” kind of thing. And Apatow’s movies are not masterpieces and some of their humor is pretty immature, but they are fun.

This looks the same. Not a classic film, but some fun at the cinema. Just by changing the target from children (Alvin) to teenagers (this one) the dumbness looks a little edgier and more entertaining.

http://elblogderg.blogspot.com Roberto

Or in a shorter answer, if a magical creature actually “produced” candy instead of poo-and it were real candy with its flavour and properties- I guess it won’t be so disgusting to eat it. In Alvin and The Chipmunks one of them put actual feces in his mouth.

Kitschensyngk

Suddenly the Starburst jelly beans that come out every Easter don’t look all that appetizing.

And to think chipmunks excrete raisins.

Oh well, at least they’re not attracted to females outside their species.

tedzey

It’s pretty obvious that the same guy who directed Alvin and the Chipmunks has a fetish for people eating crap! Think that says something about the guy?

I don’t know what they could have done differently–I’m just not digging it. *shrug*.

Aj

Alright, I have been saying that this looks awful and it does, but its for kids. No you. Not me. But for the kids, they will love it. In 10 years they will watch it again and either ask us what the hell we were doing letting them watch this or fiercely defend it like any of us with cartoons from the 80′s. The animation at least looks great. Just remember, its not all about us.

Michael F.

The design looks great. Interesting to see the Hoff get in the movie; anything to keep him sober and to avoid dining on the floor is good with me.